Deja Vu

Happened to watch the movie "2 States"..... I read the book a few years ago, but not until I watched the movie recently, I felt how close and special those bygone moments are. I gave a glimpse of how I married a North-Indian in an earlier post. This time, for a change, I got reminded of the days we spent together in Bangalore. I recently happened to speak with a dear friend of mine after many years. We took a plunge into those student days, revisiting the fun, the frivolous attitude, silly pranks and mindless chatterings. It was then I decided to come up with a post, pondering over those memories, etched deep into my heart. I had to dust them hard to bring them to light.

It was Summer of 2004. As always, we, as a group of scholarly to-be-PhDs, decided to set off for a crazy expedition. We decided to go for a trek to Ramnagar, a rural area, close to Bangalore where a few scenes of the movie Sholay were shot. I thank Kavitha Siva, the craziest of all, for organizing and bringing about such memorable trips during our PhD days. 

We were accompanied by a guide, Harish, who was familiar with the area. The idea was to walk along the farms, bushes, sparse jungles, and do rappelling, rock climbing and river crossing around the area. We also did leg-pulling with each other, climbed non-steep rocks with grunts and strains for the sake of posing to camera, played hide & seek in open fields, stopped every step to enjoy the nature and ran aimlessly like kids who just started to walk. It was so much fun, and these pictures would explain all! I was the only one for whom a rural area was very familiar. Many of them in the group stopped often to click pictures of flowers, butterflies, farmers, cows and bushes. We all had our own days out.

Me, Kabra and Gayatri

The most fun of all was rappelling. Each one of us was geared up safely to  descend a steep hillock. From the top, it looked as if I was going down a tall, mighty mountain. I tied up all gears enthusiastically, but when I was made to stand at the edge, I trembled, which soon reflected as a blatant fear of heights. It took some time for people to convince me and finally decided to go ahead with a company. Kavitha, the bravest of all, accompanied me, and as we were nearing the end, I started descending fast with full confidence and most of all, fun!! Cameras clicking and claps thundering, I landed safe. Of all, I heard a voice of care and love from atop, "You are ok? Good, Well done".

Kavitha and I

The Whole Group

That was really steep

We also stopped by to have a nibble here and nosh there. There was a forest-office in the middle of nowhere, where we had a break. So excited for the next and last adventure, each one of us was waiting eagerly for the river-crossing activity. Second time in the day, I had a slight stir in my tummy, but, needless to worry, it was an easy-peasy task. Guess why? There was a long rope tied between two distant trees in an open field, and the rope was held just a few meters above the ground. It was disheartening to the brave explorers, but I released a sigh of relief, for I am very scared of drowning in water! I could recall few comments on me. As I was cruising through the rope from one end to the other, my body parallel to the ground and my plaited hair hanging in the air, my long rope-like braid was compared to the tail of Nilgiri langur. Since I hail from a place very close to Nilgiris, they decided upon Nilgiri langur! It was upsetting to me that my long, lustrous lock was being compared with an ape's tail, but in fun, everything appeared fairer!

Gabbar and his men with Basanti and two Dannos!

It was fun to reminisce those days, after a long time. It, indeed, feels great to pause for a while to ruminate over those bygone days, only to feel good and regain, at least, some enthusiasm! Do you agree?